This invention relates, in general, to fabrication of an optical device and, more particularly, to the fabrication of an optoelectronic interface.
This application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,184, issued on Nov. 23, 1993, that bears Ser. No. 07/889,335, entitled MOLDED WAVEGUIDE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME, and filed on May 28, 1992.
At present, coupling of an optical fiber having a core region to a photonic device is a difficult task that typically is achieved by either a manual method or a semi-automatic method. Generally, both the manual and the semi-automated methods are complex, inefficient, and are not suitable for high volume manufacturing.
A major problem associated with the coupling of the optical fiber to the photonic device is alignment of a working portion of the photonic device to the core region of the optical fiber. Moreover, it should be pointed out that the working portion of the optical fiber generally is required to be not only perpendicular, but also to be within an area described by the working portion of the photonic device so as to allow light that is either transmitted or received by the photonic device to be efficiently and effectively coupled to the core region of the optical fiber, thus necessitating extremely tight or restrictive alignment tolerances between the working portion of the photonic device and the core region of the optical fiber.
Presently, coupling of the working portion of the photonic device and the core region of the optical fiber typically is achieved by actively aligning both the photonic device and the optical fiber. For example, with the photonic device being a laser and with the optical fiber having an optical detector coupled to one end of the optical fiber, the laser is activated and the other end is carefully moved or adjusted until the core region of the optical fiber is aligned to the working portion of the laser so that a maximum amount of light is captured by the core region of the optical fiber as indicated by the photodetector. However, many problems arise by aligning the photonic device and the core region of the optical fiber by active alignment, such as being extremely labor intensive, being costly, having a potential of poor accuracy of the alignment, and the like. Further, if the misalignment is severe enough, unsuitable product is manufactured, thus increasing costs and reducing manufacturing capacity. It should be understood that having the aforementioned problems are not amenable to a high volume manufacturing environment.
It can be readily seen that the present methods for aligning a photonic device to an optical fiber have severe limitations. Also, it is evident that the present fabrication methods or interconnection methods for a coupling a photonic device to the optical fiber are not only complex and expensive, but also not amenable to high volume manufacturing. Therefore, an article and a method for interconnecting or coupling a photonic device to an optical fiber that is cost effective, simplistic, and manufacturable in a high volume manufacturing setting is highly desirable.